Japanese water bottle jet pack video

So here's a question for ya...

Say you take a bunch of pressurized water bottles (maybe 15 two liter bottles, for instance) and strap them onto your back like a jet pack. Would you fly? And if so, how far?

See for yourself.

Robogeek t-shirts unveiled!

At long last, the time has come. Prepare yourself as robogeek.com expands into the world of fashion with our 2005 Collection.



Today we're introducing 17 "Kubrickian" designs in association with Zazzle, all featuring restrained Futura type on black shirts, with a different phrase/quote on the front and "robogeek.com" on the back, just below the (tagless!) collar. Many make very specific insider references to such geek cultural touchstones as Lost, Serenity, Buffy, America's Next Top Model, Invader Zim, Superman, Buckaroo Banzai, etc. in subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways. Designs include...

4 8 15 16 23 42
Dude.
I am a leaf on the wind.
In my plan we are beltless.
You need to be fierce.
I miss the cupcake.
Kneel before Zod.
Bigbooté.
...and of course our slogan, "I think, therefore I am. (I think.)"

Firefly costume auction

Firefly costume designer Shawna Trpcic is auctioning off her private collection of Firefly costumes, including Captain Reynolds' browncoat and several gorgeous dresses (including three of Inara's).

P.S.: Serenity comes out on DVD December 20.

Lady In The Water teaser trailer

A Bedtime Story for Grown-Ups starring Paul Giamatti.
*Bonus points if you can name the music. (No peeking!)

Oprah's Favorite Things (and other Oprah news)

So today was the big day. Oprah's Favorite Things. If you missed out on the frenzy, check out the list here (which includes the new Video iPod) and her holiday gift suggestions here.

In other Oprah news, Roger Ebert amusingly relates "How I gave Oprah her start" (and will guest on Wednesday's show). And on December 1, Oprah will be a guest on Letterman for the first time since May 2, 1989. (She'll be promoting The Color Purple on Broadway, and is currently celebrating her 20th Anniversary.)

D.K. Lee of Seoul Restaurant & Sushi Bar

I've been remiss! A couple weeks ago, as part of their 2005 Dining Guide, the Austin American-Statesman interviewed D.K. Lee, owner and sushi chef of DK Sushi Bar & Seoul Restaurant down on South First - one of my favorite Austin eateries for Japanese and Korean food. If you haven't been there it's a real treat, with great lunch specials and nightly karaoke. Highly recommended.

(The Statesman also interviews Juan Meza of Juan in a Million and Charlotte Finch of Iron Works BBQ, two other recommended restaurants.)

P.S.: BTW, another Korean restaurant I highly recommend is the wonderful Koriente downtown on 7th & Sabine, which I'm happy to report recently added bubble tea to their menu.

Behold the awesome power of globalization.

Tim just sent me this. I really can't believe I haven't seen it until now. (Clearly I should spend more time on Google Video.) I submit to you that this is what the internet is for - and why the world needs the $100 Laptop.

Anyway, for those of you who haven't seen this yet, it's a pair of Chinese students (in Houston Rockets jerseys, no less) energetically channeling the Backstreet Boys' absurd power ballad "I Want It That Way". Until today, I'd never heard a single Backstreet Boys song all the way through. Clearly, this is the only way to do so. But I can't help ponder... how did he get that cast on his arm? What is that kid on the computer behind them doing? Who are they?

But wait! There's more! If you just can't get enough, check out their interpretation of "As Long As You Love Me" - with Adidas tracksuits! Enjoy.

P.S.: Long-time robo-readers will be happy to know that Korean Karaoke Bliss (from two years ago!) is now back online thanks to Google Video.

P.P.S.: For more of the Chinese Backstreet Boys, check out SushiSuperstar.com (which also points to More Korean Karaoke Bliss) and the "Back Dormitory Boys" Chinese webpage.

How to change the world.

Yesterday, Nicholas Negroponte of the MIT Media Lab presented his visionary $100 Laptop to the United Nations, just ten months after he announced the initiative.

The basic concept is to make laptops as available and ubiquitous to schoolchildren in developing nations as a No. 2 pencil. At a cost of approximately $110 each, they'll be sold to goverments in quantities of at least a million (payable over five years) starting late next year, provided they are distributed through schools to children - who get to keep them. The rugged, low-power color laptops will run Linux and open source development tools on a 500MHz AMD processor with WiFi, USB and 1GB of flash memory. And they can be rapidly recharged with a hand crank.

Wired has a fascinating interview with Negroponte about the One Laptop Per Child initiative, while News.com offers a short overview.

Beck music video. With dancing robots.

Beck's new video for "Hell Yes" (directed by Garth Jennings) features four dancing Sony QRIO robots. It's three and a half minutes of mechanized joy, and can be viewed online (sadly in non-Quicktime formats) here.
(Found via BoingBoing.)

Look! Up in the sky!

The Teaser Trailer. (Direct download links here.)

Aurora: The Secret Hypersonic Spyplane

FirstScience.com may suffer from somewhat crappy design, but they have a fascinating article outlining evidence pointing to the existence of Aurora - The Secret Hypersonic Spyplane, long-rumored to be the Mach 6+ successor to the famed Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, which was retired from service in 1990. (You can see an SR-71 in person at the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, btw.)

More info on the Aurora is available at This is Rocket Science.

Kinky Friedman Talking Action Figure

It stands nearly 13 inches tall, and speaks 25 of Kinky's famous sayings (including "May the God of your choice bless you.", "I'm gonna de-wussify Texas if I gotta do it one wuss at a time.", "How hard could it be?", and "Hell yes, it's a Cuban cigar. But I'm not supporting their economy, I'm burning their fields.")

"The figure comes ready for action, dressed in Kinky's black leather vest and cowboy hat, and of course, Kinky's signature cigar never leaves his hand! With fully poseable arms for gesturing and telling corrupt career politicians where to go, the Kinky Friedman Talking Action Figure is sure to become a classic collectible." Damn straight.

It's a mere $29.95, though it sadly doesn't ship until January. However, there's a $100 Signed Limited Edition available now. (Sales of both support Kinky's campaign for governor.)

PopSci & TIME's Best Inventions of 2005

It must be Gadget Week or something. Popular Science has unveiled their annual "Best of What's New" list, while this week's TIME showcases "The Most Amazing Inventions of 2005".

Popular Science's Grand Award Winners are the Jeep Hurricane, Airbus A380, '07 Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Toshiba Perpendicular Magnetic Recording, One Bryant Park, PlayStation Portable, Ascadia Zubbles, XBox 360, Timbersil, Neuro-Controlled Bionic Arm, Kodak Easyshare-One, and Volvo Penta Inboard.

TIME's Best Inventions include the Michelin Tweel, Smart Rope, Topsy-Turvy Planter, Toshiba ApriAlpha & ApriAttenda robots, Nike MaxSight contacts, Target ClearRx, Nemo Inflatable Tent, One-Time-Use Camcorder, Large-Area Sensor Array, Automatic Door, Shift Tricycle and AntWorks.

Why you should buy a Mac. (And a TiVo.)

With the holiday season fast approaching, I thought I'd share Wall Street Journal tech guru Walter Mossberg's latest column for SmartMoney.com, entitled "Tempted by the Apple?", which beautifully articulates why you (yes, you) should consider buying a Mac - "the best computer, with the best operating system with the fewest security problems, for mainstream consumers". In particular, he calls the iMac G5 "the single best home computer on the market".

"Mac OS X is far better than Microsoft's aging Windows XP and already boasts many key features Microsoft plans to include in its 2006 version. And the Mac comes with excellent free software that's generally superior to comparable Windows programs that cost extra. Out of the box, the Mac has better photo, music, video and DVD-creation software than any Windows computer I've seen. It has a better free email program and web browser than Windows, a better free word processor and much better search capabilities. About the only software a typical consumer would have to buy is the Mac edition of Microsoft Office."

Also: "The Mac OS and software can handle, without translation or conversion, all of the common types of files you use on a Windows PC." And: "There is little or no known spyware for the Mac, and there has never been a report of a successful virus for it." (Want a second opinion? Even PC Magazine gives the iMac G5 4.5 stars out of 5. UPDATE [11/18]: And Business Week calls it "the best consumer desktop around".)

FYI, Amazon offers great deals on Macs, including an awesome mail-in rebate [PDF] worth up to $200 off PowerBooks and $150 off iMacs.

Meanwhile, TiVo is offering an enticing new promotion through 11/29 - get a 40-hour TiVo and a year's service for just $16.95/month (with free shipping and a 30-day money back guarantee). So if you've been fraught with TiVo envy, here's a cheap cure. (And if you still haven't figured out what all the fuss is about, you can demo TiVo online.) Just be sure to enter my e-mail address (paul@perchance.com) when you activate it so I get TiVo Points! ;-)

Development Arrested by Fox. Again.

So I find myself both confused and depressed.

For those of you playing along at home... back in February, Fox abruptly suspended production on Arrested Development, cutting its second season order from 22 to 18 episodes, indicating it was toast. Then, in May after a regime change at Fox, it was happily reported that the series would be renewed for both a third and fourth season.

But last Thursday, Variety reported Fox was cutting its third season order from 22 to 13 episodes, putting the show on hiatus for the rest of November sweeps. And then on Friday, The Hollywood Reporter reported the show was dead (with a small caveat: "There is a possibility that the show will be shopped around, but its high cost is expected to be prohibitive for a cable network.") Anyway, I remained in denial over the weekend, but finally had to face facts today when Kristin confirmed the show's demise on E News. (There's more from Kristin about all this in her weekly column from last Friday, and yesterday's online chat transcript.)

The final five episodes of Arrested Development will start airing on December 5. (And both Season One and Season Two are available on DVD.)

L.A. Times profiles Participant

In today's Los Angeles Times, columnist Patrick Goldstein has a fascinating profile of Participant Productions entitled "Merging movies and activism". Participant, founded last year by eBay co-founder/billionaire Jeff Skoll, is committed to produce films that can effect social change (such as Good Night and Good Luck, North Country, Syriana, and Richard Linklater's forthcoming adaptation of Fast Food Nation).

"To me, we're straddling the line between business and philanthropy," says Skoll, whose earnest, thoughtful manner marks him as a fish out of water in the Hollywood shark tank. "If a film is successful, but does no good in the world, I would consider it a failure. Whereas if a movie does some good but doesn't make a lot of money, I'd still say it was worthwhile."

Metropolis poster sold for record $690,000

The BBC reports The Reel Poster Gallery in London sold an original Metropolis film poster for $690,000 today, shattering the previous record of $453,500 (set in 1997 by a poster for the 1932 film The Mummy).

It is one of only four surviving copies known to exist of the iconic art deco poster designed Heinz Schulz-Neudamm for Fritz Lang's classic film. (MoMA and Filmmuseum Berlin each own one, while the other is in a private collection.) According to a Reuters report, it "was bought by California-based collector Ken Schacter from British businessman Andrew Cohen, chairman of mail order firm Betterware."

And BTW, if you don't own the stunning (and essential) Restored Metropolis DVD, you're seriously missing out.

Sin City. The Bar. In Tokyo.

This is just too damn freaky.

Yesterday, Harry tipped me (and the rest of the Western world) off to the existence of the Sin City Bar in Tokyo, replete with pole dancers and $8.50 cocktails named after the main characters. It's a bizarrely elaborate promotional tie-in to the Japanese release of the film, and will apparently only exist through year's end (though until then it's open until 5am). For more details, check out this first-hand report from RidingSun.com (who tipped Harry off).

P.S.: Sin City: Recut & Extended comes out on DVD a month from today.

Pan revealed on AICN

Yesterday, AICN unveiled four new images from Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, including the first look at Doug Jones as Pan (and the Pale Man), and Ivana Baquero as Ofelia.

Kalamazoo students given free college tuition

A stunning, unprecedented announcement was made yesterday in the city I was born in. An anonymous group of benefactors is offering college scholarships for at least the next 13 years to nearly all of Kalamazoo's high school graduates, good at any of Michigan's public universities or community colleges. They will cover 65-100% of tuition for four years for every high school graduate, depending on how long they've attended Kalamazoo public schools.

More details can be found via the Kalamazoo Gazette's cover story, and from the Kalamazoo School District.

1,400 lb. meteorite found in Kansas

The Associated Press reports that a 1,400 lb. meteorite was found two weeks ago in Kiowa County, Kansas, buried 7 feet underground. Classifed as an oriented pallasite, it is conically shaped and contains gemlike olivine crystals embedded in iron-nickel alloy. Only two larger meteorites of this type are known to have ever been found: a 1,500-pounder in Argentina and a 3,100-pounder in Australia. (A Wichita Eagle report has more details, and there's also an AP video report.)

More glimpses of Superman Returns

The official Superman Returns website has launched with a fistful of new images in the form of glorious hi-res desktop wallpapers. (The teaser trailer is coming soon, and will reportedly ship with all prints of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.)

First look at The Fountain

(Go freak yourself out. Shoo.)

Thus Spake Joss

"Joss to never learn how to work site! Man is complete Melvin! Mock him!"

It was with those words that Joss Whedon returned to the hallowed halls of Whedonesque earlier today to share some assorted good humor and news... including the announcement(s) of a new three-part Firefly / Serenity comic book mini-series (set during the TV series), and a new ongoing comic book series sequel to Buffy and Angel - not to mention the increasing likelihood of a Spike spin-off movie for television.

In other/his words, "The Buffyverse glows in my brain with a new, overreaching arc that will include the comics, Spike, and more. It's taking shape and soon you will know its name. And you will tremble."

(Meanwhile, Joss is writing the Wonder Woman screenplay, and will soon resume his Astonishing X-Men comic book series.)

Animated Hellboy is coming!

Years ago, Guillermo and I talked at length about how cool it'd be to do Hellboy animated, and I'm pleased as punch to see it's finally coming to pass.

It was announced today that IDT Entertainment will partner with Revolution Studios to produce "the continuing animated adventures" under the creative supervision of Guillermo and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, who will reunite the cast of the film led by the inimitable Ron Perlman. (Meanwhile, Hellboy II should be going before the cameras sometime next year.)

UPDATE: For more details, check out supervising director/producer Tad Stones' new (and fascinating) Official Hellboy Animated Production Diary.

Toilet train your cat.

Behold... CitiKitty.

All hail the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Bobby Henderson, creator of The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, has signed with (Random House's) Villard Press to pen "The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster" (aka the Pastafarian Bible), which is due out on Valentine's Day.

In (somewhat) related news, the Vatican has come out in defense of evolution, voicing strong criticism of American Christian fundamentalists/creationists who intrepret the Bible literally at the expense of science.

A fistful of New York Times articles

Yesterday's Sunday New York Times featured a special Holiday Movies Preview Section, providing several worthwhile reads such as Lorne Manly's The Stepson, the Billionaire and the Walt Disney Co. (about The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe), Caryn James' The Terrence Malick Enigma, and David M. Halbfinger's The Delicate Job of Transforming a Geisha.

But wait, there's more! Other recent recommended reads include Julie Bosman's Will Size Spoil a Cheeky Ad Agency? (profiling Crispin Porter & Bogusky), Laura M. Holson's Can Hollywood Evade the Death Eaters? (about Warner Bros.' belt-tightening), and Penelope Green's The Book on a Graphics Superhero (profiling Chip Kidd, his Manhattan apartment, and his new book Chip Kidd: Book One: Work: 1986-2006).

P.S.: Okay, one more... Michael Joseph Gross takes a look at Richard Linklater's new project in an article entitled Want Stealth With That? The 'Fast Food Nation' Film Goes Undercover.

Free pocket Constitution from the ABA

In conjunction with their Conversations on the Constitution program, the American Bar Association is offering a free, pocket-sized edition of the U.S. Constitution to anyone who wants one - no strings attached (although: limit one per household, and quantities are limited). This is an essential, must-read for every good citizen. (Additional copies are a mere $1.50.)

Go Kinky sneak preview midnight Wed.

This Wednesday at midnight (1am Thu. EST/PST), CMT will preview two half-hour pilot episodes of Go Kinky, a proposed reality show chronicling Kinky Friedman's independent gubernatorial campaign. The Associated Press reports the episodes will officially premiere in 2006, and may lead to a full series that will follow Kinky "across Texas as he attends Rotary Club lunches and campaign fund-raisers and makes trips to the barber."

FYI, Kinky will be a guest on Tuesday's The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch (9pm & midnight CST), and reportedly will soon be profiled by 60 Minutes.

Interview with Zathura's Jon Favreau

Anne Thompson of The Hollywood Reporter recently interviewed one of my favorite people in Hollywood, Zathura director Jon Favreau - who recently debuted the (thoroughly delightful) film at Fantastic Fest.

"Just because it's PG does not mean that you don't hold it up to the scrutiny of an adult movie. I never wanted to compromise the integrity of Zathura by adding laughs," he says. "I wanted the best actors I could find, like Tim Robbins, not sitcom actors. It's not about rolling eyes and doing cartoony double takes. Humor comes from investing yourself so completely in the stakes that it's funny to the people watching - not to the people doing it. E.T. is dead serious; Close Encounters of the Third Kind is about life or death."

Favreau will next direct John Carter of Mars for Paramount.

You have way too much crap.

That's the lede of an amusingly perceptive (and personally resonant) article by Mark Morford in Friday's San Francisco Chronicle entitled Why Do You Have So Much Junk?

Throw stuff out. It is one of the healthiest things you can do. Honest psychologists and good spiritual healers often advise patients with overactive minds and squirrel-like attention spans and problems focusing and problems sleeping, they will tell them not to pop some Ritalin or merely take an herbal tincture and eat more leafy greens, but to go home right now and, yes, clean out your closets. Clear out your clutter. Strip it all to the beautiful essentials and then keep it that way.

Dump the stuff you're hiding from, that you've been uselessly protecting, that you've been scared to let go because it makes you feel safe and connected and more clearly defined as a human when, in fact, it's doing the exact opposite. I do not care how cheesy it sounds. I do not care if you scoff and whimper and cling to your pile of old newspapers like Paris Hilton clings to her perturbed little sneer. You gotta make space. For breath, for thought, for perspective, for health. It is the easiest and cheapest therapy you will ever enjoy. Do it now.

Anyway, I'm taking the advice to heart, and threw out four full trashbags this weekend, and dropped off another one to Goodwill. More crap will be going up on ebay soon.

MyPetZombies.com

Egad!

James Cameron speaks

Director James Cameron recently spoke to the Sunday Times about life after Titanic, offering details on the new Collector's Edition DVD (featuring almost an hour of never-before-seen footage, and extensive documentary material), while also dropping hints about his long-awaited next project(s)...

“I’m directing two movies back-to-back and I’ve got two more lined up after that,” he says. “Two movies using the same techniques, the same 3-D digital-camera system, the same virtual production studio. They’re big projects.” The first will come out in the summer of 2007, the second in the summer of 2009. One is Battle Angel, an epic adaptation of a 12-part Japanese manga series about a 14-year-old amnesiac female cyborg on a quest to discover her identity while battling evil, set in the 26th century. The other, which he refuses to talk about at this stage, may be what is known in Cameron circles as Project 880. (He will not be making Terminator 4, and he will not be making True Lies 2, as has been rumoured.) The combined budgets for the two films — which will use the proprietary, high-definition 3-D digital technology he has developed — could top half-a-billion dollars.

Six weeks until King Kong

Why should you be counting down the days to Peter Jackson's three-hour remake of King Kong?

This two and a half minute A Look Inside should answer that.

(For more, visit KongIsKing.net, and check out this recent Hollywood Reporter article about the DVD.)

Defend yourself against the coming robot rebellion

Sunday's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had an amusing feature story about Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute grad Daniel H. Wilson's new book, How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion (which has already been set up as a film at Paramount by the screenwriters of the unfortunate Herbie: Fully Loaded).

A robot trying to find you will use thermal imaging based on the roughly 91-degree temperature of human skin, so smearing yourself in cool mud will confuse them. If your robot "smart" house - one wired with video surveillance and computer gear - tries to trap you, chop your way out with an ax and don't take your cell phone, because the house will track you with it. (A tip for telling whether a new acquaintance is a real person or a humanoid robot: "Does your friend smell like a brand-new soccer ball?")

In what may or may not be a coincidence, the new Hammacher Schlemmer catalog just arrived with a new lifesize, 7ft. tall animatronic Robby the Robot replica on the cover. It is a thing of beauty, pre-programmed to recite lines from Forbidden Planet (synchronized with the neon tube lights, of course), or you can project your voice through Robby with an included wireless microphone. A remote control allows you "to move his computer relay assembly, rotate his servo-controlled head, spin his planetary gyro stabilizers, and rotate his scanners while various lights flash." But sadly, it doesn't walk, which I tend to think it should, given the $50,000 price tag.

I mean, hell, for that price you could raise an entire army of Robosapiens, Roboraptors, and RoboPets. Not that I'm suggesting that, of course. (Although they are all currently on sale at Amazon via those links...)